Custom PC - UK (2020-08)

W

henyouconsiderthatmost

TRX40chipsetmotherboards

willleaveyouwithchangefrom

£500,spendingnearly£300moretoown

a mainstreamdesktopmotherboardfor

CPUswithnomorethan10-coreCPUs

mightseema littlefoolish.However,

everymotherboardmanufacturerhas

suchhaloproducts,andpeopledo

actuallybuythem.TheMEGZ490

GodlikeisMSI’stopflightmodelandit

costsa whopping£765incVAT.

Onereasonforthehighpriceisthe

powercircuitry.Thereare 18 powerstages, 16 ofwhich

areratedat90AandfeedtheCPU.Ontopofthepower

systemisa largefinnedheatsinkarray,withthetopand

leftportionsconnectedwitha heatpipeto

spreadtheheat.There’sactivecoolinghere

too,witha pairoftinyfansembeddedin

theI/Oshroud.There’sa heatsinkaround

thebackoftheVRMsaswell,dispersing

heatfromtheunderside.It workstoo– the

VRMsnevertopped60°Cinourtest,even

whentheCPUwasoverclocked.

YougettheusualcountofsixSATA

6Gbpsports,whichismaybea little

disappointingif youhavea bunchofhard

diskstotransplant,butMSIhasfocused

moreonNVMestorage,witha totaloffive

ports.ThreeofthemareonthePCB,but

anothertwoareonanM.2Xpandercard,

whichagainoffersactivecooling.

A largesingle-pieceheatsinkhidestwo

oftheportsonthemainPCB,andyou’ll

needtoremoveyourgraphicscardto

accessthemaswell.

ThetopM.2heatsinkiseasiertoaccess,

andsatawayfromourgraphicscard’s

exhaustfan,soweusedit forourthermal

testing.It keptourSamsung 960 EvoM.2

SSData chilly46°Ccomparedto55°C

withoutit,buttheM.2Xpandercardkept

REVIEWS / MOTHERBOARDS

SPEC

Chipset

IntelZ490

CPUsocket

IntelLGA1200

Memorysupport

4 slots:max128GBDDR4

(upto5000MHz)

Expansionslots

Three16xPCI-E3,one1xPCI-E 3

Sound

8-channelRealtekALC1220

Networking

1 x Aquantia 10 Gigabit

LAN,1 x Realtek2.5Gigabit

LAN,802.11axWi-Fi

Overclocking

Baseclock100-200MHz,

CPUmultiplier8-123x;max

voltages:CPU1.7V,RAM2V

Ports

6 x SATA6Gbps3 x M.2PCI-E

3,2 x USB3.1Type-A,2 x USB

3.1Type-C,4 x USB3,2 x USB

2,3 x surroundaudioout

Dimensions(mm)

305 x 277

Z490 ATX MOTHERBOARD

MSI MEG Z490

GODLIKE / £765inc VAT

SUPPLIER box.co.uk

the SSD below 40°C for the entire test. The M.2 speeds sat

at 3,326MB/sec and 1,853MB/sec respectively, which is in

line with other Z490 motherboards.

If you’re looking to upgrade from Gigabit networking, the

MEG Z490 Godlike not only sports the usual 2.5 Gigabit

port included with all its Z490 boards, but also a 10 Gigabit

Aquantia controller. There’s 802.11ax Wi-Fi as well, with

a large desktop aerial in the box, so it’s top marks for

networking support here.

We were initially stumped about the lack of power and

reset buttons on the PCB, given the board’s calibre, but

they’re actually hidden on the PCH heatsink in little tabs.

As you’d expect, you get a clear-CMOS button, LED POST

code display and a massive count of ten fan headers. There

are two thermal probe headers too, which can be tied to

the fan control suite in the EFI and used to control fans,

which is useful for water-cooling systems using coolant

temperature probes. The EFI itself is very well laid-out,

with the vast majority of overclocking settings on the same

page, plus it looks clean and feels snappy.

Meanwhile, the I/O panel is suitably rammed with ports.

You get a pair of USB 3.1 Type-C Thunderbolt 3-compatible

ports, eight Type-A USB ports (including four USB 3 and

two USB 3.1) as well as a USB BIOS Flashback button. The

layout is aided by the stretch to E-ATX dimensions, but

the PCB is completely packed thanks to the addition of a

dynamic dashboard – an OLED screen that can display

custom graphics or presets, such as CPU temperature or

the POST code display.

rds

cc

uuss

tommPP

CC

E

X

T

R

EM

E^ U

L

T

R

A